Raspberry and Pistachio Friands

My gorgeous friend Clara recently gave me The Violet Bakery cookbook by Claire Ptak, and I'm working my way through it with relish. These friands caught my eye because they don't require any crazy ingredients that we can't get here in Kenya, and the recipe is super simple. Our raspberries go from strength to strength as far as I'm concerned - both in size and flavour - and pistachios are definitely not impossible to find! So bringing these two together into a light sweet treat is easy and scrumptious.

Whisk the egg whites gently. Bash your pistachios if you haven't bought 'ready slivered' ones, and blitz your nuts in the food processor if they need to be 'ground'.

Weigh out the rest of the ingredients except the raspberries and slivered pistachios, and put into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until thick and foamy (around 1 minute).

Spoon the mixture into your greased moulds to about half way up and then top with 2 - 3 raspberries. I found that our raspberries are a bit big so ended up tearing them into thirds and using those to top the friands. Sprinkle with the slivered pistachios.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the tops are springy to the touch.

Leave the friands to cool slightly in their moulds and then remove and dust with the icing sugar. Delicious served fresh with a dollop of thick greek yoghurt, but they will also keep for a few days in an airtight container.